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To my amazement, some members of my CSA put their sweet corn in the swap box!!! Without hesitation I traded my green peppers and zucchini for extra corn to freeze. Here are the steps I used:

First, duh, I shucked the corn. I cut off both ends then made a slice down the ear making it easier to remove the leaves and silk smoothly.

I had two dozen ears, but since the corn was organic one ear had a few too many critters and rot to use. Five ears were for dinner, leaving 18 ears to freeze, not a whole lot, but enough for a first batch that will be my succotash at Thanksgiving.

Next, I boiled the ears in a total of four batches for four minutes each batch.

I used my large stainless steel colander with a clean dishtowel underneath and stood the ears upright in order to let them cool and drain excess water. When they were cool enough to handle I cut the corn off the cobs standing each ear upright in a shallow serving bowl. After all the ears were scraped I poured melted butter (about 3 tablespoons) into the corn and tossed it to break up the clumps and insure that the butter was evenly distributed. I don’t have pictures of these two steps because by this time my visiting daughter and I had hit the wine, and you know, forgot to take pictures!

Last, when the scraped, buttered corn was totally cool I filled quart freezer bags about two thirds full, closed them, flattened them, opened the seal and squeezed out all of the air, and then resealed them. I stacked them in the quick freeze section of my refrigerator and later transferred them to the freezer in the carriage house.

My 18 ears produced 3 nicely packed quart bags, so obviously I need to repeat this process about 3 or more times to get the quantity I would like for those chilly months when fresh frozen corn will be a treat. We’ll see if there are more orphans this week at the CSA.

Meanwhile, we ate the rest for dinner with sliced beets, green beans from the CSA and our garden, and grilled salmon. YUM!

Like this:

This week our CSA (community supported agriculture) share included garlic scapes, carrots and a beautiful fresh cabbage. What else to do but stir fry! Here’s what I did:

Tossed julienned carrots, one inch garlic scape sections, fresh minced garlic, half an onion chopped, chicken tenders cut into one inch pieces in canola oil with a splash of hot chili oil and a sprinkling of cayenne powder for good measure. I made sure that everything was in one layer and on high heat in my awesome 15 inch Calphalon pan. (I don’t have a wok).

Next I washed and chopped half a giant cabbage into rough one inch strips and threw them in after the first ingredients had browned and become transparent. I splashed in some rice vinegar to add some zing and some moisture, stirred like crazy, and for the last few minutes put the lid on.

When everything was tender but not at all close to slimy, I added some sweet chili sauce from Trader Joe’s.